Breather bag



May 8, 1928.. 1,669,183

R. E. WILSON BREATHER BAG Filed March 26, 1924 4 sheets-sheet 1 REE /Z jim/W- May 8,- 1928. 1,669,183

R. E. WILSON BREATHER BAG Filed March 26, 1924 4 sheets-sheet 2 ,Zaag Wj. ya?

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May s, 1928. 1,669,183

R. E. WILSON BREATHER BAG 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 R. E. WILSON May 8,1928. 1,669,183

BREATHER BAG Filed March 26. V1924- 4 Sheets-Shea Patented May 8, 1928.

.1,669,183 UNITED AsTaTEs PATENT oErlcE.

ROBERT E. WILSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD OIL COMPANY, OF WRITING, INDIANA, A CORPDRATION F INDIANA.

BBEATHEB BAG.

Application led March 26, 1924. Serial No. 702,029.

The present invention relates to improvements in breather bags intended for use in connection with vented storage tanks for volatile liquids, such as gasoline, and will be fully understood from the following description, illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View through a breather bag embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of one end of f' the breather bag, the protecting housing being shown in section;

Fig. 4 is a broken plan view, on an enlai-ged scale, of one of the riders or weights for the breather bag;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the rider or weight shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. G is a vertical sectional view through a portion of the side of the bag and a side support therefor; Y

Fig. 7 is an elevational view of a storage .tank and a breather bag and the connections therebetween.

In my yprior application Serial No. 636,- 590, tiled May 4, 1923, I have disclosed that loss by evaporation from storage tanks containing volatile liquids, and particularly gasoline, may be substantially prevented by connecting a vent pipe from such tanks with a collapsible bag, preferably of fabric 'so treated so as to be substantially impervious to the vapors of the stored liquid. In that application I have also disclosed a specific form of construction and support of such an expansion or breatherbag.

rlhe present aplication relates to improvements in the construction and support of the expansion or breather bag, and in means for counterbalancing the extra pressure caused by the weight of vapors 'in the vent pipe, thereby maintaining substantially atmospheric pressure in the top of the storage tank. As illustrated in the drawings, 8 is a storage tank provided with a vent pipe 12 which leads from the vapor space of the tank 8 to the breather bag 10. The vent pipe 12, is provided with a' suitable pressure and vacuuin relief valve or seal 9. The breather bag 10 ma suitably be of fabric material, .for examp e, as described in m prior application Serial No. 636,590, ed May 4, 1923, and of substantially cylindrical form, the bag being housed in a suitable protectlve and those at the ends bag house 11. The vent pipe 12, leading from the single vent of the storage tank 8 containing gasoline on* other volatile liquid, is brought into the bag house ll from the bottom, and passes through a protecting metal plate 13, lying on the floor of the bag house, to the interior of the bag, the size of which is determined by the size of the storage tank or' tanks to which it is connected.

The ha(r 10 is supported within the bag house 11 L.by means of suitable supports at an intermediate elevation at suitable points around the periphery of the bag, for example, at the sides and ends. The support of the bag may be elfected, for example, by placing a bar 14 (suitably a length of gas pipe bent to conform with the shape of the bag when distended, if necessary) in a fold 15 of the fabric of the bag and clamping the bar and the enfolding bag material bet-Ween suitable clamping members, for example, the wooden planks 16 provided with grooves 17 in which the bar 14 and enfolding bag material lie. In the form illustrated, the clamping members 16 are held together by means of bolts 18 and those at the sides are supported by means of the supporting members 19 by means of the supporting means 20.

The pressure in the vapor system including the expansion bag and vent pipe and extending back to the vent of the tank is controlled by means of suitable riders or Weights resting upon the bag and movable upwardly and downwardly with its upper side. As illustrated in the drawings, these riders or weights may suitably be formed to correspond roughly with the shape of the contacting surface of the bag, for example, as boatlike or trough-like members 2l, of which one is provided on each side of the longitudinal median line of the bag, the riders 21 being held in spaced relation by bars 22 bent to a conformation which will not interfere with the free expansion of the bag. lIhe weights or riders 21 rise and fall with the upper portion of the bag, and by reason of their disposition on opposite sides of the apical point or center of the bag, when expanded, they re tain their relative positions during the movements of the bag. The weights or riders 21 are so constructed or weighted that a relatively slight excess pressure within the bag will e suicient to maintain a balanced preslll tif)

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sure in the vapor space ot the tank; in practice, for example, tor gasoline excess pressure of 0.1 to 0.3 inches of Water has been Jiound to lbe a proper pressureior the pur-v -pose, depending upon prevailing temperafture conditions..

ln order to cause a substantial uniformity of pressure of vapor in the bag at all points in its expansion and collapse, the suspending rope 26 is connected to each of the Weights or riders 2l. These ropes are, inthe embodimentI illustrated, joined at 26 to form a single rope 27 which passes over tivo horizontally spaced pulleys 28 and is connected to one end ot' a chain 29. To the other end of the chain 29 a partial counterbalancing Weight 30 is connected by a rope 3l, the Weight ot which may be varied in accord ance With varia-tions in the Weight ot vapor in the vent pipe7 etc.

With the bag expanded, as shown in Fig. i, the Weights or riders 2l exert their least eifectiveness. ln that position they are counterbalanced by both Weight 30 and chain 29. Ars the bag collapses, the riders 2lexert a higher eective pressure, and the chain 29 passes to a horizontal position between pulleys 28, and no longer acts as a counterbalance for the riders. As the bag collapses farther, the eective pressure exerted by the riders becomes greater, the chain 29 passing to a dependin position above the riders, adding its weig it to theirs.

lt is readily apparent that suitable means may be employed for maintaining a substantially constant edective pressure by means of the Weights or riders 21, if desired.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the details of construction of a specific embodiment there of, it is not intended that these details shall be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention, except as hereinafter set forth in the claims.

lt claim: v

l. A vapor expansion bag for connection to the vent ot a storage tank 'for volatile liquids having lateral supporting means at an intermediate elevation, and spaced weighting means riding upon the bag on opposite sides of its apical point when distended.

2. A. collapsible bag, having lateral sup- ,scarsa porting means,

a storage tant: vent pipe conn nected thereto, and means for applying a variable torce lto the exterior oit said bag thereby maintainin substantially' atmospheric pressure in t e vapor space ofi the tank.

3. Al collapsible bag having` lateral supporting means at an intermediate elevation, a storage tank vent pipe connected thereto, and a Weight member resting upon and supported by the bag.

a. A collapsible bag, a storage tank vent pipe connected thereto, lateral supporting means t'or the bag, at an intermediate elevation, Weight members resting upon said bag, and spacing means for holding said Weight members in spaced relation on opposite sides of the median line of the bag.

5. A collapsible bag having lateral supporting means at an intermediate elevation, weighting means resting upon the upper surface of the bag, and means tor varying the edective Weight of the Weighting means as the bag collapses to maintain substau tially constant pressure on the contents oi the bag.

6. A. collapsible bag havin lateral supporting means at an intermediate elevation, weighting means resting upon the upper surface of the bag, counterbalancing means for said weighting means, and connecting means between the weighting means and the' counterba-lancing means, said connecting means having a substantial Weight whereby the eective Weight oi the weighting means is increased as the bag collapses.

7. lin expansion bag and means 'for supporting lthe sides of said bag at an intermediate elevation thereof, said supporting means includin a bar Within a fold of the material of theag and clamping means exterior to the ba and engaoing the bar with in the fold of t iemateria 8. An expansion bag and means for supporting the sides of said bag at an int-ermediate elevation thereof, said supporting means including a bar Within a fold ot the material of the bag in the interior thereof, and clamping means exterior to the bag and engaging the bar Within the fold of the material. 4

- ROBERT E. WlLSON.

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